Page 65 - LTC - TOEFL PREP MODULE

Example III

The boy __ going to the movies with a friend.

(A) he is
(B) he always was
(C) is relaxing
(D) will be

This sentence has a subject (boy) and has part of a verb (going); to be correct, some form
of the verb be is needed to make the sentence complete. Answers (A) and (B) are incor-rect
because the sentence already has a subject (boy) and does not need the extra subject he.
Answer (C) is incorrect because relaxing is an extra verb part that is unnecessary be-cause
of going. Answer (D) is the best answer; will be together with going is a complete verb .
. The following chart oudines what you should remember about subjects and verbs:

SKILL 2: BE CAREFUL OF OBJECTS OF PREPOSITIONS

An object of a preposition is a noun or a pronoun that comes after a preposition, such as
in, at, of, to, by, behind, on, and so on, to form a prepositional phrase.

(After his exams) Tom will take a trip (by boat).
This sentence contains two objects of prepositions. Exams is the object of the preposition
after and boat is the object of the preposition by.

An object of a preposition can cause confusion in the Structure section of the TOEFL test
because it can be mistaken for the subject of a sentence.

Example

With his friend __ found the movie theater.

(A) has
(B) he
(C) later
(D) when

In this example you should look first for the subject and the verb. You should notice the
verb found and should also notice that there is no subject. Do not think that friend is the
subject; friend is the object of the preposition with, and one noun cannot be both a subject
and an object at the same time. Because a subject is needed in this sentence, answer (B),
he, is the best answer. Answers (A), (C), and (D) are not correct because they cannot be
subjects.

The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about
objects of prepositions:

\<~preposition i~ followed by a noun or pronoun thatl'is called an obj¢ct of the preposition.
, 'lfaword is an ()bjectof a preposition, it is not the $ubject.

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